I Dream of Bugs
by forensicsfan
Summary: NS a little quirky piece for Mel and Ashley.


**Disclaimer:** I don't own them, I didn't create them and I don't profit from them, but as always, if given the opportunity to visit the set, I'm bringing them all coffee.

**Author's Note:** This is for Melanie who really gave me the idea in a round about way (and yeah for Gmail chat), and for Ashley in memory of Harry and as a sort of birthday present.

* * *

"So Harry was your cat?" Nick looked at Sara incredulously. "I thought someone in your family had died." 

Sara glared at him in irritation. "Harry was the closest thing I had to family." With one withering glance she slammed the door in his face and stormed back over to her couch, sinking back into it and grabbing a tissue. She had thought Nick of all people would understand her attachment to Harry but apparently she'd been wrong. Life was certainly going to be lonelier without the furry little guy around. With all the uncertainty she'd experienced over the years, Harry had been the one constant, the only one she could really count on and now he was gone. She tried to console herself with the fact that he'd lived a long life and that until these last few weeks he'd been fairly healthy. Still, it was upsetting and she found herself having a good cry until she fell into a fitful sleep on the couch.

* * *

_Seven years later, Sara's life was all that she could have dreamed it would be. After that fight with Nick, they drifted apart until their friendship was never quite the same as it had been before, and finally, Grissom had decided to make a move. One thing she had never realized about Gil Grissom was that once he made a decision there was no going back. They'd gotten married just three weeks after they'd started dating and a mere 10 months later their first set of twins, Mariposa and Farfalla, were born. The second set of twins, Arana and Vlinder were born just a year and a half after the first set, and Sara was expecting twins yet again. This time, however, she was going to insist that they didn't name their children after spiders or butterflies._

_Every once in a while, she wondered about Nick; he quit forensics and the last she'd heard, he was living out near Caliente raising birds and building toys in his basement. However, her life was so busy trying to make sure that her children ate a well balanced vegetarian diet while Gil schooled them on insects that usually it was just a passing thought._

_Gil was now the director of the lab and despite the demands of the job, he spent considerable time writing entomology text books for kindergarteners, inspired by how bright Mariposa and Farfalla were and anticipating that both Arana and Vlinder would be just as bright. Sara had been inspired by Gil's inspiration and had been working on a text book on theoretical physics for children; her book was taking much longer simply because her children took up so much of her time and when they were sleeping and Gil was home, they tried to make up for lost time as much as possible, which was why they had four children and were expecting two more._

_Life couldn't be better._

_A sharp pain in Sara's side pulled her out of her reverie. She felt a moment of panic as she wondered if her water was about to break. The pain struck again and shewas startled hearing a loud knocking sound._

* * *

As Sara woke, she felt disoriented and as her eyes blinked open she realized that she was in her apartment, sleeping on the remote control for her TV, and she wasn't a mother, nor was she pregnant; a quick glance at her left hand confirmed that she wasn't married either. Her groggy mind started to clear a little as she rolled herself off of the couch and stumbled towards the door, not bothering to check who it was before opening the door. 

An apologetic Nick Stokes stood on her doorstep with a large bunch of flowers in one hand and a grocery bag in the other. "I wanted to apologize."

"Huh?" Sara was still trying to wake up.

"Harry. Your cat. I was sort of a jerk earlier." He stood there looking nervous, hoping that she wasn't going to make him stand outside where her neighbors might see him making a fool out of himself.

"Oh, yeah." Just the mention of Harry's name clouded my thoughts. I wasn't sure how I was going to face things all alone; being without a man in my life was just so much easier with Harry to come home to.

Nick cleared his throat and held the flowers out to Sara. "I got these for you...to cheer you up.

Sara looked at him incredulously. "Thank you." She stepped aside to let him in not really caring that her face was probably tear stained and blotchy and after falling asleep on the couch, she was most likely rather rumpled looking. "Let me just find a vase or something."

Nick followed her into the kitchen where she started to rummage around for something to put the flowers into. He leaned his hip against the counter and held the bag up. "Uh, I thought maybe you could use a little distraction; I rented a couple of movies."

Sara glanced over at him in surprise. "You did?" Of course that is exactly the sort of thing that Nick would do, and the simple gesture made her smile.

A smirk flitted across Nick's face as he reached into the bag and pulled out. "I hope you're in the mood for this."

Sara quirked a single brow as she found a vase and filled it up with water. "The Princess Bride." She let out a soft snicker. "I haven't seen that...well, for a long time." It had been a long time since she'd bothered to see a movie.

Nick raised his brow and lowered his voice, faking a terrible Spanish accent. "Do you have six fingers on your right hand?"

"Don't tell me you know all the lines in the movie." Sara looked at him suspiciously. "I never would have pegged you for a closet 'Princess Bride' fan."

"There's nothing _closet_ about it." Nick grinned at her. "It's one of the best movies of all time." The truth was, he was feeling incredibly guilty for being put out that it was her cat that had died when she'd called and woken him up, asking if he could come over for a while. It wasn't that he didn't have any compassion, or that he didn't feel a little sad about Harry himself, it was just that he didn't think Sara was all that attached to the cat. Apparently he was wrong and he wanted to make sure that Sara was all right.

Sara could do nothing but grin at him, and as they settled themselves on her couch to watch the film, Sara wasn't sure what was funnier; the movie or Nick trying to imitate all of the characters infused with his Texas twang. In the end, she decided that the movie had never been this fun to watch and it took her mind off of Harry for a while.

As the credits rolled up, Nick's arm was slung across Sara's shoulders and he pulled her a little closer, dropping a kiss on top of her head. "I really am sorry for being an insensitive jerk earlier."

"It's ok...I didn't really help things by slamming the door in your face." Sara leaned into him a little more, letting out a contented sigh. She missed Harry, but having Nick there just then was really nice.

"No, you didn't, but if you hadn't, we might not have gotten to watch such a great movie." Nick let out a chuckle as Sara pulled away from him grinning.

"You do realize that you're ridiculous." She was glad too because she really didn't feel nearly as sad.

"Anything for you, Sara." He grinned back at her and pulled her into a comforting hug, whispering into her ear as she melted against him. "And I really _am_ sorry about Harry."

_**The End**_


End file.
